October 28, 2014

yellow is making an appearance in my paintings for the first time ever
perhaps neon next
one possible cause
my new sunglasses have been turning this into one of the greatest autumns ever

also I now say "morning" to people on the street on my walk to school to drop off my daughter
with a nod of the head to boot like Bert from Mary Poppins tipping his hat in 1964

when I get to my studio I'm doing a little Mister Rogers rendition
switching my street shoes to painting shoes before I get my smock on
and pretty happy about it too
no whistling or singing yet
however Feeling Groovy did pop into my head the other morning

this pretty much sums up the reasoning for no long drawn out blog posts lately

even with all my usual procrastinating and laziness
this new found freedom has brought all kinds of groovy things my way
including a great new work ethic.
I can't drag myself away from the studio some days!
I'm even happier doing all the annoying domestic things that I used to hate.

self-consciousness is such an interesting thing because it's both positive and negative at the same time. socially it's uncomfortably nervous and ill at ease. that's the negative part, but for an artist it's a necessary sense of self awareness and idiosyncrasy. uncertainty is an artist's friend because you need that kind of truthfulness to make anything worthwhile. I think what I'm learning is how to keep my self-consciousness in the studio and leave it there when I go home. I guess my emotions are learning to behave themselves for a change...

"It is six A.M., and I am working. I am absent-minded, reckless, heedless of social obligations, etc...The tire goes flat, the tooth falls out, there will be a hundred meals without mustard. The poem gets written... I have no shame. Neither do I have guilt. My responsibility is not to the ordinary, or the timely. It does not include mustard, or teeth. It does not extend to the lost button, or the beans in the pot. My loyalty is to the inner vision, whenever and howsoever it may arrive."Excerpt from Mary Oliver's essay Of Power And Time